Slavery in the Gold Rush White southerners brought black slaves into the California mines as early as the summer of 1849. Slave owners and slaves came primarily from western U.S. states — Texas, Mississippi, Missouri, Arkansas. Among them were Stephen Spencer Hill and Wood Tucker, who mined near Columbia.

What did slaves do during the Gold Rush?

In 1848 when the gold rush hit, white southerners flocked to the state with hundreds of enslaved black people, forcing them to toil in gold mines, often hiring them out to cook, serve, or perform a variety of labor. Sometimes fortunes were amassed on the backs of this free labor.

How did the gold rush affect black people?

The goldfields in California provided a temporary home for African American miners. Most African Americans became permanent urban residents, creating Black communities in San Francisco, Sacramento, Marysville, and other cities and towns.

Did slaves work in mines?





The mines were worked mainly by free labour, and few enslaved Africans were imported. In the 16th century African slaves had been used in Mexico as dockworkers, as sheep and cattle herdsmen, and to a limited extent in the mines. Enslaved Africans were usually used in mining, agricultural labour and domestic work.

What was used in the gold rush?

Early mining methods involved human labour and water to free gold from clay and soil. A diggers’ toolkit included a wide tin pan, pick axes, spades, shovels, a wheelbarrow, felling axes, trowels, iron wedges, crowbars, metal buckets and a cradle.

How did slaves earn money?

Where allowed, some slaves grew crops of their own to supplement diets or to barter and truck. Others crafted brooms or baskets. Still others performed extra labor for their masters—often called overwork—or for other white people in the community, earning precious cash or credit for purchases of their choosing.

What food did they feed slaves?



Weekly food rations — usually corn meal, lard, some meat, molasses, peas, greens, and flour — were distributed every Saturday. Vegetable patches or gardens, if permitted by the owner, supplied fresh produce to add to the rations. Morning meals were prepared and consumed at daybreak in the slaves’ cabins.

Who suffered the most from the Gold Rush?

Native Americans



However no ethnic group suffered more than California’s Native Americans. Before the Gold Rush, its native population numbered roughly 300,000. Within 20 years, more than 100,000 would be dead. Most died from disease or mining-related accidents, but more than 4,000 were murdered by enraged miners.

When did slavery end in the US?

December 6, 1865

Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States and provides that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or …

Who was negatively affected by the Gold Rush?



Negative Outcomes of the Gold Rush



Later in the Gold Rush, immigrants from China often experienced intense discrimination. During the 19th century, China struggled economically, and thousands of young Chinese men immigrated to California in the hopes of earning enough money to support their families back home.

What job did most slaves have?

The vast majority of enslaved Africans employed in plantation agriculture were field hands. Even on plantations, however, they worked in other capacities. Some were domestics and worked as butlers, waiters, maids, seamstresses, and launderers. Others were assigned as carriage drivers, hostlers, and stable boys.

At what age were slaves sold?

The risk of sale in the international slave trade peaked between the ages of fifteen and twenty five, but the vulnerability of being sold began as early as age eight and certainly by the age of ten, when enslaved children could work competently on the fields.

What jobs did male slaves have?

The first slaves to be brought to the British colonies of North America were disproportionately male. Considered more valuable workers because of their strength, enslaved men performed labors that ranged from building houses to plowing fields.

What tasks did slaves perform?



Of the remaining people, 28% were skilled laborers working as house servants, blacksmiths, barrel makers, cooks, dairy maids, gardeners, millers, distillers, seamstresses, shoemakers, spinners, knitters, ditch diggers, wagon drivers, or postillions driving the carriage.

What goods did slaves make?

Moreover, slave labor did produce the major consumer goods that were the basis of world trade during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries: coffee, cotton, rum, sugar, and tobacco. In the pre-Civil War United States, a stronger case can be made that slavery played a critical role in economic development.

What chores did slaves do?

Life on the plantation



House servants performed tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and driving, while the field hands labored for up to 20 hours a day clearing land, planting seed, and harvesting crops.

What goods were traded for slaves?

On the first leg, merchants exported goods to Africa in return for enslaved Africans, gold, ivory and spices. The ships then travelled across the Atlantic to the American colonies where the Africans were sold for sugar, tobacco, cotton and other produce.

What was slaves sold called?

slave trade, the capturing, selling, and buying of enslaved persons.

What were slaves not allowed to do?



There were numerous restrictions to enforce social control: slaves could not be away from their owner’s premises without permission; they could not assemble unless a white person was present; they could not own firearms; they could not be taught to read or write, or transmit or possess “inflammatory” literature.